June 17 - 1928: Government pays off Canal bonds

German U-Boat action during the first World War made the Cape Cod canal a success. Above: 1915 painting depicting the sinking of the Lusitania by the German U-Boat U 20 on May 7, 1915. Wiki Commons image.

1928: Government calls for Cape Cod Canal bonds to be paid off

$6 million have been called

On this day in 1928 an Associated Press story stated that the US Government was going to pay off the first $6,000,000 of the bonds debt accrued when the US took over the project.

The government had taken over ownership from the "Boston, Cape Cod and New York Canal Company" when the project's future was threatened due to shipping companies avoiding it because of its shallow depth and frequent groundings.

But it took the enormous losses to shipping offshore during the first World War (1914-1918) to force enough traffic through the canal to make it profitable.

The General Court of Massachusetts considered the first formal proposal to build the canal in 1697.

1915 painting above depicts the sinking of the Lusitania by the German U-Boat U 20 on May 7, 1915. The sinking caused a storm of protest in the United States, as 128 Americans were among the dead. It also influenced the decision by the US to declare war in 1917. Wiki Commons image.

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Walter Brooks (1930-2018) was the Founder of CapeCodToday.com. He was also the founder of Best Read Guide and wrote the Blogfather blog. Walter served as volunteer Managing Editor of Cape Cod Today until the day he died.

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